375 entries for Historical Context

After 1925, Salthill, like all industrial schools, came under the control of the Department of Education, and political interest in the School appeared to wane. There was no record in the annals of any leading politician visiting Salthill in the years following 1925.

Renovations and redecoration of the premises took place in the 1940s as they had fallen into disrepair. In 1943, Salthill was recognised by the Department of Education as a primary school which continued in existence until the early 1970s, when the remaining boys transferred to the local primary school.

The Institution underwent a radical change in the early 1970s. The Kennedy Report, published in 1970, had identified the problems inherent in the old institutionalised methods of childcare, and had given the existing institutions no alternative but to change their structures radically. All institutions either responded to this need for change or, like Artane, Tralee and Letterfrack, closed down.

In 1973, a new Manager was appointed and he worked with the Department in bringing about the changes that established the group home structure. The new Manager was more sensitive to the needs of the boys, and had the assistance of a trained and experienced Brother who had taken a special interest in childcare and had attended the Kilkenny course shortly after it commenced in the early 1970s.

The transformation of St Joseph’s was completed in accordance with plans that were drawn up in 1987. Most of the land on which the School was located was sold for development and the money was used to build a new complex planned on modern childcare principles. The Brothers ceased to have an association with St Joseph’s in 1995. The centre now consists of two units, each catering for six young people with a staffing ratio of 1:1 and operated by the Health Service Executive.

The Committee received the following photograph and plan of Salthill: Source: The Morgan Collection, National Photographic Archive, Temple Bar, Dublin. Source: Congregation of Christian Brothers.

St Joseph’s School for Deaf Boys, Cabra (‘Cabra’) was founded in 1856 by the Catholic Institute for the Deaf as a residential school for deaf Catholic boys. The Catholic Institute invited the Christian Brothers to manage the School and, after some persuasion, they agreed. The School opened in 1857, and the Christian Brothers managed it until 2000. The School today is under the trusteeship of the Catholic Institute for Deaf People, formerly the Catholic Institute for the Deaf. The Archbishop of Dublin is the Patron of the School.

St Joseph’s, Cabra was not like any other residential school run by the Christian Brothers. They stated in their Opening Submission: St Joseph’s was first and foremost a school for deaf children from all parts of Ireland. It had a residential component for those children who could not travel on a daily basis to the school. All children who came to school did so voluntarily and it is this feature of electing to come to school that differentiates it from any other residential service that the Congregation ran for children such as the Industrial Schools in Artane and Letterfrack.

A number of Brothers who had experience in industrial schools were appointed to Cabra and served there at some point during their careers.

In 1929 the School at Cabra was recognised by the Department of Education as a national school and, in 1952, as a special national school. In 1986, a secondary school was opened on the premises. Both the national and secondary school are administered by a Board of Management and one school Principal. In 1986, six residential houses were built, and these are managed by a Director of Residential Care. The move was designed to change the School from an institutional character to a smaller ‘family’ unit facility, and it introduced lay staff with responsibility for the care of the boys. It was a well-equipped and impressive facility that offered education and care to children who might otherwise not have benefited from the ordinary national school system.

The following photograph has been made available to the Committee: Source: Congregation of the Christian Brothers

St Conleth’s Reformatory School in Daingean, County Offaly was different from all the other institutions inquired into by the Commission. It was a reformatory and, unlike the children in industrial schools, most of those in a reformatory had been convicted by the courts of criminal offences that would in the case of adults have been punishable by imprisonment or penal servitude. At the time of conviction, boys were aged between 12 and 17, and were committed for between two and four years, but the period of detention could not extend beyond their 19th birthday. History of St Conleth’s, Daingean

The need for a secure institution for children under 16 emerged in the first half of the Victorian era, when there was a huge increase in the numbers of such children indicted for felonies, particularly in the rapidly growing cities. The prison population had risen dramatically, partly because crimes such as theft that had once incurred the death penalty had been made non-capital offences, and partly because poverty drove people to petty crime to survive. As more and more children were sent to adult prisons, there was a growing concern that these children, convicted mostly for petty crimes, were being corrupted, exploited and abused by the hardened criminals within the system.

As early as 1816, in London, the Committee for Investigating the Alarming Increases of Juvenile Crime published a report on the need for action to address the matter. Four of its seven findings became central to the policy reforms over the decades that followed. These were: the improper conduct of parents; the want of education; the want of suitable employment; and the violation of the Sabbath (and lack of religion).

The Juvenile Offenders Act, 1847 began the process of treating children who were criminals in a different way from adults. This Act allowed children under 14 (this was raised in 1850 to 16) to be tried in a special juvenile court. However, the problem remained as to where they should be sent, and the solution to this problem became crucial because the practice of deporting juvenile criminals was shortly to come to an end. A committee was set up in the House of Lords to advise on the matter. The Scottish reformer, Dr Thomas Guthrie, who had been advocating establishing boarding schools to educate children before they became criminals, and separate reformatory schools for children who had already committed crimes, helped to convince the committee to legislate for such schools.